You may think you're getting a great deal, but you could actually be getting ripped off.
Let's reveal the all time top retail ripoffs of modern times.
1.
Can you remember how much you spent on popcorn the last time you visited the cinema?
A small bucket of popcorn usually costs around $6 in the US or £4 in the UK.
But you may be horrified to hear that small bucket of popcorn you just spent a fiver on
only contains around 8 cents worth of popcorn kernels.
It's not even justifiable, because when you take into consideration all the costs of overheads,
including sugar, salt, cooking the popcorn, staff wages and renting the premises, the
popcorn is still being sold at around a 1,275 per cent mark-up.
Even more shockingly, the box that the popcorn comes in usually costs the cinema more than
the actual popcorn inside it.
2.
I'm sure, like all of us, you've been a victim of the sales scandal.
It's hard to resist when you are being sold the promise of an amazing saving on that new
kitchen, or snapping up 2-4-1 deals in the supermarket.
According to the law, a sale item only needs to have been offered at the older, higher
price for 28 consecutive days within the previous six months.
In retrospect of this incredibly flexible law, many companies will drastically increase
the price of an item in a single store in a remote location, where little of it is sold
anyway.
Then, 28 days later, market the item as on sale at a seemingly unbeatable price across
the entire nation.
Despite the fact that the new sale price is usually incredibly similar to what the item
was being sold at before the sale anyway.
In fact a British shopping comparison site found that the 3 major kitchen retailers in
the UK had all increased the price of their kitchens by up to 130 per cent in the run
up to Christmas, just so that when they went on sale they could advertise a massive saving.
When the sale price was actually just a few pence cheaper than what they were selling
at only 2 months earlier.
Supermarkets are the worst culprits of this rip-off, all those price slashes and savings
you see in supermarkets are rarely what they seem.
3.
I'm sorry ladies but you're being ripped off on beauty products.
Research shows that despite being virtually identical, except for the smell and packaging,
on average women pay up to 75 per cent more than men for the same products.
A well known razor brand was found to be selling pink versions of the exact same razor to women
for $7, when the men's version was selling in the same store for $5.70.
Similarly women's shaving gel has been found selling at a price 70% more than the men's
version for the exact same product.
4.
But it doesn't end there, women are also being ripped off on a whole other level by the array
of anti-ageing creams on offer.
Anti-ageing creams are known for their significantly expensive price tags.
Big pharmaceutical companies play on women's insecurities and emotions to sell to them
what amounts to no more than a drastically overpriced moisturisers.
And it works, the anti-ageing business is worth millions.
Adverts heavily use scientific sounding terms to sound authoritative and sell more.
Such as "These emollients are specially formulated with aqua and humectants" which, when translated
from scientific nonsense actually means "These lotions and creams contain water and moisturisers".
But the worst part is that dermatological studies have repeatedly shown that anti-ageing
creams straight up don't do what they claim.
And they definitely don't reverse the signs of ageing, at least not permanently.
When asked, most Dermatologists agreed that around 95% of claims made by anti-ageing products
are complete nonsense.
Sure they will make you look younger in the short term, because they contain moisturiser
which plumps up the skin, reducing the appearance of wrinkles.
But any cheap moisturiser will do the exact same thing.
However once the moisturising effect wears off, your face will look exactly the same
as before applying the product.
But the worst part is, anti-ageing creams can actually speed up the ageing process.
Our skin has a natural shedding cycle, old cells will eventually fall away and reveal
the news healthy cells underneath.
Some anti-ageing companies abuse this fact by adding active ingredients such as Hydroxy
acids to their products, which speeds up the shedding process, meaning the healthy skin
underneath will come to the surface faster, making your skin appear to be smoother.
But the use of these acids leaves the skin more vulnerable to the Sun's harmful UV rays,
resulting in increased skin damage.
So the use of anti-ageing products in combinations with exposure to the sun can actually speed
up the ageing process.
5.
When you buy over the counter pain killers such as Aspirin, Ibuprofen or Paracetamol,
which is known in the US as Acetaminophen, do you choose the cheap unbranded version,
or the more expensive and heavily marketed branded packet?
I'm sorry to say but you're paying a lot more for the exact same thing.
In the UK a box of 16 500mg paracetamol painkillers sells for just 19 pence.
But the same number of tablets sold in a fancier branded packet costs £1.45, thats nearly
8 times more expensive.
Despite the fact that both products contain the exact same amount of the active ingredient.
There is absolutely no difference in the pain killing power of both products.
But it's not just paracetamol and it's not just in the UK that this happens, most branded
pills are considerably more expensive all over the world than their identical, un-branded
counterparts.
However research has shown that, solely thanks to the placebo effect some people do find
branded painkillers to be more effective.
6.
No, it's not your imagination, your favourite chocolate bar is shrinking.
Each year big chocolate manufacturer's shave grams of the size and weight of their chocolate
bars.
The idea is that if they reduce the size very slowly consumers won't notice and will instead,
obliviously get used to the new size.
When asked why their chocolate bars have shrunk over the years, manufacturers say it's because
of increasing pressure from public health campaigns.
But the problem is that the price you're paying remains exactly the same for less chocolate.
In 2008 Snickers bars weighed 62.5g, but they now weigh in at 48g, however the price remains
exactly the same.
Huge chocolate manufacturers such as Hershey's, Cadbury's, Nestle and Mars are all culprits
of shrinking chocolate bars to increase profit margins.
But it's not just chocolate, the amount of air put into crisps packets is also increasing,
whilst the amount of crisps slowly decreases.
Cereal manufacturer's are also making their boxes skinnier so they hold less cereal.
7.
Smartphone apps are pretty cheap, right?
Not the I Am Rich app, this $1,000 dollar app caused controversy in 2008 when it was
sold on Apple's app store for the highest possible selling price for an app, $999.99.
It must have done something pretty special for that price right?
Well not quite, all the app did was display a glowing red gem on your screen when you
opened it.
The app description even stated it was a "Work of art with no hidden function at all.".
It was only on sale for 24 hours before Apple pulled it from the store.
Nevertheless during those 24 hours eight people bought this app for a remarkable $999 dollars.
8.
Here's a remarkable fact for you, 70% of grocery purchases are unplanned.
Do you ever find yourself going to the supermarket to buy a few ingredients and come out with
bags full of strange products you don't even need?
That's because supermarkets are intelligently designed to maximise the amount of money you
spend.
The most profitable products with the highest profit margins are placed at eye level on
the shelves, whilst the cheaper products and the genuine bargains are placed on very low
or very high shelves.
Supermarkets also place the most expensive products such as tempting electrical goods
at the start of the store and the cheaper food goods towards the back, so you have to
walk through an array of tantalising electrical goods before you pickup your groceries.
Do you ever find yourself endlessly walking in circles around the supermarket looking
for that one product that you've purchased before, and you thought you knew where it
was located?
You're not going crazy, it's because supermarkets frequently move products around so shoppers
have to traipse around the whole store looking for them, all the while passing hundreds of
other tempting products which they may just throw in the trolley and unwittingly purchase.
9.
If you've ever bought wine at a restaurant you will surely know how expensive it can
be.
And you may think you're getting a premium bottle of wine for your money, but you're
not.
The markup on wine in restaurants is insane.
At most restaurants the menu price for a bottle of wine is usually around a 200% markup compared
to its store price.
And buying wine by the glass is even worse, you will pay a 400% markup on a glass of wine.
To make it even worse, the cheapest wines on the menu usually have the highest markups
to make them seem like more expensive wines.
Some restaurants allow you to bring your own alcohol, if so you will save yourself a considerable
amount on the bill.
10.
And finally, is Hotel mini bars.
It's become somewhat of a cliche, don't touch the mini bar, it will cost a fortune.
But the fear is real.
On average beverages and snacks taken from hotel mini bars cost around four times as
much as what you would pay at the supermarket.
One New York City hotel even charged a 1,300 per cent markup for a bag of Gummi bears.
And to rub salt in the wound, today the charges are automatic.
Modern mini-bars have detectors that record the items you remove and automatically bill
it to your room.
Hotel room movies also have ridiculous markups, you can rent a movie from online services
at home for only a couple of dollars, but hotels routinely charge around $15 to rent
the exact same movie in your hotel room.